Renton’s High round count Season Finale–USPSA Open Division

Shot the final match of the season at the Renton Fish and Game Club. It was an amazing match put up by Aristotle and his crew. This is his last match as a Match Director. This was an 8 stage, 288 round match. Here’s the video :

 

I came in surprisingly 2nd place in the Open division out of 16 shooters. I thought I had screwed up on two stages and wouldn’t have placed high at all. Stage 8 was bad as I had two Procedurals for shooting with my foot out of the fault lines, and one miss. Fast time but 30pts penalty.

Anyway, was a great time and Open is definitely the division for me. Really fast paced and fun.

Ricardo Lopez : IPSC World Champion–Revolver

Ricardo Lopez is the grand-master of masters. He is the world champion revolver shooter and bested even the unbeatable god of revolvers, Jerry Miculek during the most recent World Shoot XVI.

here’s a playlist of videos that was posted by patoboy71 on YouTube of Ricardo’s performance. amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1772D164D4E17622&feature=mh_lolz

Dot Tracking an Open gun with a High-speed camera

I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, as many people have been talking about dot tracking in open guns and how to tune a flat shooting gun. I thought I’d try to take high-speed video of the dot in my open gun while shooting various loads of .38 Super Comp that i’ve pre-loaded. To see how the dot jumps and settles back into view. The dream pattern, is for the dot to jump straight up without leaving the lens, and settling back down in the middle. As you can see from the video, that’s definitely not what I see. My dot goes up to 12 o’clock, drives all the way down to 6 o’clock, then back to 12 and settling in the middle.

I tested the following loads :

1. 115gr Montana Gold CMJ, 11.0gr N105
2. 115gr Montana Gold CMJ, 11.2gr N105
3. 115gr Montana Gold CMJ, 11.3gr N105
4. 115gr Montana Gold CMJ, 11.5gr N105
5. 124gr Montana Gold CMJ, 10.0gr N105

 

I don’t see any noticeable difference in the dot movement between all the loads except feeling a "softer" recoil in the 124gr CMJ loads.

Caveat: I had to shoot in a slightly weird stance because I had to position the scope in front of my Casio Exlim FH100 camera to align it properly. That definitely affected my recoil management capabilities.

I’ve also tried shooting at a man-sized target at 200yards and was amazed at how accurate this gun was. That’s in the bonus section at the end of the video.

My first M&P 45 experience.

A friend of mine just picked up a new Smith and Wesson M&P 45 recently for a good price.  I suggested to change the sights and improve the trigger with the Duty/Carry Action Enhancement Kit (DCAEK) & Ultimate Striker Block (USB) Kits from Apex Tactical and go to work to help out with my mediocre gunsmithing kung-fu.

here’s what’s in the kit :

The standard trigger is HORRENDOUS. I can’t imagine Smith and Wesson selling a product with such a crappy trigger, when the fix is so simple. If you look at the kits that Apex Tactical sells, those are just replacement parts which Smith and Wesson can just make on their own.

At 7.5lbs and trigger pull is super gritty. It feels like you’re dragging a small rock wrapped in sandpaper as you pull the trigger back, before having to exert so much pressure to release the sear. My double action revolver has a smoother action than this! IMHO of the three popular plastic guns, the XDm ranks highest in terms of trigger feel in a stock gun, Glock next and the M&P at a distant third.

So first things first, install the Ultimate Striker Block, which makes the trigger pull a lot smoother because it replaces the stock striker block plunger with one that’s nicely beveled and polished. This modification alone makes the trigger pull smooth.

In order to add this part, you’d have to remove the rear sight, so I took the opportunity to replace the stock white dot rear sights with a Warren Tactical black rear sight.

I didn’t take many pictures of the process but here’s the result :

VERY smooth trigger pull, shorter reset, and crisp 5.25lb break. nice! can’t wait to take it to the range.

Here’s how it looks, beautiful! Wish I had one.

How to get cool 1st person video using Contour cameras as hatcams.

I get a lot of emails, and comments about what camera I use, how I mount them and what software I use to edit the videos I put together the past two years. Someone suggested that I record a tutorial video and post it up on YouTube. so here it is!

 

Some links :

• How to mount Contour HD on cap : https://gunbot.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/headbandcam-now-hatcam/
• Contour+ & Accessories : http://www.contour.com
• Adobe Premiere Elements : http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere-elements.html

Stovepipe Problem Solved?

had two Stovepipes in my recent match at the Custer Sportsmen’s Club last week and was wondering what was the problem. If you look closely at this video, you can see occasionally the rounds eject downwards and not up and out.

 

That led me to think that it was hitting the scope, but according to John from JPL Precision, the Serendipity scope from C-more never has this problem and has worked fine for many of his guns.

I took a deeper look at the scope mount and I realize that my gun’s right side mount was cut to make more room for the round to eject. This was a 10 year old gun and was made by a not-so-reputable gunsmith (although John made it work better).  As you can see from this picture, the Double Alpha Foldable Wing that I installed is slightly bigger and protruded almost a 4mm out from the scope mount, if you look properly, it has been cut to make more room for the round to eject.

The foldable wing on the left side sits flush against the scope mount but the right side was modified. It didn’t even occur to me to check that. Flipping the wing over, I notice dents and peening caused by rounds hitting the folded wing. so THAT’s what’s causing the stovepipes!!

Since the wing on the right side is useless, I took a saw to it and cut it off.

Touched up using some Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black Metal Finish.

and voila!

and how it looks installed :

Perfect! now I’m ready and confident that there will be no more stovepipes

(I hope!)

I hate picking up brass!!!

Can’t wait to get my barrel “re-barreled” for 9mm Major. This 38 Super Comp thing is pissing me off. I spend 80% of my time on the range looking down on the ground looking for my brass. UGH. I hate it.

This is what I see most of the time. DIRT.

I’m so done with picking up brass. Either I man up and stop picking up 38 super comp brass and shoot new brass, or I switch to 9mm Major. what do you think?

Remora holster for Ruger LCP + Armalaser

Got curious with the multitude of reviews on YouTube for this new no-clip sticky holster and thought I’d give it a try. The Nemesis holster that I’ve been using with my Ruger LCP is already smoothing out and losing it’s grip. I’ve drew my gun out of my pocket together with the holster many times.

The version I bought is the one that’s supposed to fit a Ruger LCP with a laser. http://www.remoraholsters.net/Remora-Series-2A-Holster-Pocket-IWB-1XSMA3.htm I was a little worried that my huge armalaser block might not fit in this holster but wanted to give it a try anyway. here’s how it’s packaged :

Out of the package, quality is pretty good :

Let’s see if it fits :

ooo tight fit, I have to push it in really hard.

Here it is compared to the Nemesis :

It is a little bulkier than the Nemesis, but perhaps I need to wear it in for a bit. Also, the outer material is made out of some kind of rubberized material and shaped in small circles, compared to the Nemesis which uses a cross-stitch pattern. Here’s a close up view of the surface :

Right now, the fit is really tight, I can’t draw the gun without the holster coming out with it. I’m gonna leave the gun in and let it set or stretch out for a few days to see if it gets better.